Junior coal terminal raising capacity, Transnet forges ahead with Waterberg programme

CAPE TOWN (miningweekly.com) – RBT-Grindrod Terminals is ramping up its coal export capacity to 3.6-million tons of coal.

RBT-Grindrod, a joint venture between Grindrod and RBT Resources, offers a fully mechanised, brownfield port solution, at Richards Bay, in KwaZulu-Natal, which is entirely separate from the existing privately-owned Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT).

Speaking at IHS Markit’s 2017 South African Coal Export Conference, in Cape Town, last week, RBT-Grindrod Terminals executive director Bongani Biyela said the company was investing in improvement of efficiencies, which it was undertaking in conjunction with Transnet.

“We have introduced the Laycan system, which is aimed at reducing demurrage costs. For the majority of the people I talk to about using RBT-Grindrod as an alternative to RBCT, the matter of demurrage costs is one of the most significant issues of concern for them. We do accept that it is a challenge that we have to address,” he stated.

Biyela said RBT-Grindrod was playing an “important support role” to the RBCT, particularly with regard to assisting junior miners in getting their product to the export market.

“We continue working with our customers to improve our efficiencies and grow our volumes.”

UNLOCKING THE WATERBERG
Meanwhile, Transnet outgoing commercial GM Divyesh Kalan, who announced that the conference would be his last official, public engagement as a Transnet official, said that, during the course of 2016, the State-owned freight logistics group had invited coal miners with projects in the Waterberg region of Limpopo to one-on-one meetings to start the process of validating their projected coal production volumes for projects in the region.

“We sought to establish whether these projected volumes were, in fact, realistic and what timeframes they had in mind to bring this coal to market. We reviewed companies’ prospecting and mining rights, as well as their resource and reserve statements. Additionally, we examined the status of their project developments including fundraising levels and offtake agreement updates to ascertain which projects are in fact truly viable,” Kalan explained.

He remarked that this formed part of Transnet’s efforts to ensure that rail infrastructure investment in the Waterberg would be in line with the realities of coal volumes in the region.

Kalan highlighted that the first phase of the expansion of the coal line between the Waterberg, in Limpopo, and Richards Bay, in KwaZulu-Natal, was completed in July 2016.

It entailed the construction of a 1.8-km-long passing loop at Matlabas, enabling 100-wagon trains to cross without disrupting the operation of other trains on the line.

He explained that Stage 2 of the Waterberg railway programme, which was already under way, entailed running three, 100-wagon trains a day. The trains’ running process would incorporate the running of diesel trains from Lephalale to Thabazimibi. At Thabazimibi, the diesel trains would be changed over to AC/DC electric locomotives, which would run to Pyramid South and would then continue on to either Ermelo or other destinations.

“Once Phase 2 of the project is concluded, this will see the Waterberg’s railing capacity rise from two-million tons a year to six-million tons a year and our aim is to have this completed by mid-2018,” stated Kalan.

Further, he noted that, during the course of Stage 2 of the project, axle-loading capacities would be increased across the lines from 20 t to 26 t. Kalan mentioned the key reason for this was that the coal system was being designed around trains of 100 to 200 wagons in length with average weights of between 80 t and 100 t per wagon that, therefore, required higher axle-loading capacities.

Transnet’s Waterberg railway line upgrade programme is currently divided into five stages with the final aim being to transport 24-million tons a year of coal on the network by the end of the 2024/25 financial year.